Agency clarifies General Conference survey concerns

By J. Richard Peck*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Church will begin its official online survey in December of the 992 delegates to its 2008 General Conference.

In November, however, some U.S. General Conference delegates were asked to participate in a telephone survey by the Conquest Communications Group, a Richmond, Va., firm that declined to identify the survey's sponsor.

General Conference organizers emphasized that the Conquest survey is not being conducted by or for The United Methodist Church.

"The denomination's survey will be done by e-mail and will come directly from my office," said the Rev. Alan J. Morrison, business manager for General Conference and an executive staff member of the United Methodist Council on Finance and Administration.

Unofficial survey
Paul Black, a General Conference delegate from the Illinois Great Rivers Annual (regional) Conference, says he received a call Nov. 26 from Conquest. When he asked who was sponsoring the survey, the caller responded that it was The United Methodist Church. Pressed about which church agency had commissioned the survey, the caller was unable to offer specifics. Black declined to participate in the survey.

Morrison said two other delegates reported being asked by Conquest to participate in a survey.

Contacted by United Methodist News Service, Conquest officials cited a "non-disclosure" agreement with its clients and declined to identify the survey's sponsor.

"The agent who was conducting the survey spoke out of turn," said Vic Gresham, a Conquest partner. "The response that the 'denomination' was paying for the survey is not correct."

Gresham said the survey caller was "just trying to get through the survey" and "has been dealt with and will no longer distribute incorrect information."

After checking later with the sponsor, Gresham said the sponsor did not want him to disclose how many delegates were to be interviewed, how many questions were asked or the nature of the questions.

The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reports that most of Conquest clients are groups seeking to elect Republicans to various political offices.

United Methodist News Service asked the major caucuses that focus on social issues in the church if they knew anything about the Conquest survey. Leaders of each caucus said they were not sponsoring the survey and did not know who might be paying the bill. Caucuses responding included the Institute on Religion and Democracy; Good News; the Confessing Movement; the Methodist Federation for Social Action; and the Church within a Church.

Official survey
The official survey is being coordinated by the GCFA Office of Analysis and Research and the church's Connectional Table in cooperation with the general agencies of the denomination. The survey is similar to ones conducted for the church prior to each General Conference.

The GCFA survey will be available in French and Portuguese. Additional inquiries regarding the official delegate survey should be directed to Scott Brewer, GCFA director of analysis and research, at sbrewer@gcfa.org.

General Conference, the top policy-making body of the 13.5 million-member United Methodist Church, will meet April 23-May 2, 2008, in Fort Worth, Texas. Delegates -- half clergy and half laity -- will come from the United States, Africa, the Philippines and Europe.

The assembly is the only body that speaks for the entire denomination. It meets every four years to set church policy, approve a churchwide budget and speak to social and moral issues of the day.

*Peck is a retired clergy member of New York Annual Conference and serves as a freelance writer for United Methodist News Service.